


The Broken Road

by lit_chick08



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Future, Crack, F/M, Fic Exchange, Season 2 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-05
Updated: 2012-04-05
Packaged: 2017-11-03 02:09:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lit_chick08/pseuds/lit_chick08
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes it takes everything falling apart to find what puts you back together</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Broken Road

**Author's Note:**

> Request: _Tyler/Elena: he is the best of both worlds_

She turns 18 four months after Stefan disappeared with Klaus. It is a Friday, and she comes home from the library to find all of her friends crammed into the living room, decorations covering the walls, an ice cream cake with her name waiting in the freezer.

Jeremy hugs her close as Caroline puts the candles on the cake, Bonnie lighting them with her magic. Damon and Alaric crack jokes, playing off each other in a way that makes Elena smile, but, as hard as she tries, she can't quite help but feel that there is a layer of sadness to this party, a level of desperation amongst her loved ones to make sure she isn't going to lose it. She recognizes the peculiar tension from life after her parents' deaths, and the undeniable tinge of pity to everyone's thoughts, words, and actions makes Elena wish everyone would stop pretending like everything is normal and just _be_ normal.

Everyone has left for the night, Jeremy having decided to spend the night with Bonnie, and Elena stretches out on the couch, turning on an old movie on television. She has barely settled into the cushions when someone knocks on the door. The old instinct to shout for whoever it is to come in raises its head, but Elena catches herself, reminds herself just how dangerous it could be. But then she hears the doorknob turn and hears Tyler call, “Anyone here?”

“Living room!” she calls back, not bothering to get up.

Tyler carries a paper bag in his hands, and Elena isn't able to swallow back her smile. She has known Tyler her entire life, has shared countless birthdays with him, and anytime he has ever had to wrap a present by himself, he has always placed the items into a grocery bag. His own birthday had only been two weeks earlier, and Elena suddenly finds herself remembering how many joint birthday parties they had as children, running around Founders' Hall in their dressy clothing. She and Tyler had never been best friends, had never shared the kind of relationship she and Matt had, but Tyler _had_ once been the easiest, most comfortable friendship she had.

Since his return to Mystic Falls, Tyler has started coming around more, slowly integrating himself into their twisted group of supernatural hijinks. Elena knows Caroline is hoping their friendship blossoms into something decidedly less platonic, but she also knows Caroline is still not over what happened with Matt.

“Sorry I missed the party, but ever since I got back, my mom - “

“It's cool,” Elena assures him, pulling herself up into a sitting position. “If you want cake, there's some in the freezer.”

Tyler shakes his head with a small smile before handing her the bag. “Nah, I'm good.”

Elena unrolls the top of the bag, peering inside at the mishmash of items inside. “What is this?”

“ _That_ is your 18-year-old survival kit,” Tyler explains proudly. “It's everything you can now enjoy since you're officially legal.”

Elena cannot help but laugh as she pulls out cigarettes, lottery tickets, a voter registration form, an application for a Mystic County marriage license, a credit card application, and a porn DVD with vampires on the cover.

“ _Fang Fuckers 3_ ,” Elena reads with a laugh.

“They didn't have _Fang Fuckers 1 and 2_ , but I figure you're a smart girl; you'll be able to understand the story.”

She thinks of all the gifts she received earlier in the evening, gifts selected with care by her friends and family, wonderful gifts in beautifully wrapped packages, and Elena feels a momentary twist of guilt for feeling more pleasure at Tyler's hastily put-together grab bag than she did at any of the other presents.

The tears are in her eyes before Elena can even anticipate them, and she quickly wipes them away with an embarrassed laugh. Tyler instantly looks uncomfortable and begins to apologize for upsetting her. Elena waves her hands to make him stop, quickly explaining it isn't him, that she loves what he has given her.

“It's just...” Elena realizes she doesn't have the words, doesn't even know how to verbalize what it is that is churning inside of her.

Instead, she grabs the pack of cigarettes and asks, “Do you remember when we tried to smoke back in junior high?”

Tyler's look of concern melts into a nostalgic smile. “Yeah, we stole some out of Kelly's pack and smoked them in my backyard.”

Elena laughs, wiping away the remaining tears. “And I got so sick, I threw up for days.”

“Which was all that kept my dad from kicking your ass too.”

She sobers for a moment, recalling how angry Mayor Lockwood had been when he had found them, how he had grabbed Tyler's arm so tightly and had been reaching for her when Tyler twisted his body to block her, taking the brunt of the punishment.

Elena reaches for the fresh pack of cigarettes and carefully peels back the cellophane wrapping. “Want to try again?”

They end up on the back porch, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder on the steps. Tyler lights both of their cigarettes with a practiced hand, and Elena coughs as she draws the nicotine into her lungs. He laughs as he smoothly exhales, sending swirls of smoke around his head.

“You're a terrible smoker, 'Lena,” he reports, and Elena smiles at the sound of the nickname on his tongue. No one calls her that anymore; everyone stopped using the name after her parents died, almost as if they were afraid that, by hearing a shortened version of her name, she would be sent right over the edge. 

“You can't make fun of me on my birthday,” she playfully orders, jostling him with her shoulder.

Tyler bumps her back before taking a heavy draw off of his cigarette. “Well, in case you forgot, I'm not a nice guy.”

Elena scoffs, stubbing out her cigarette. “Only when you don't want to be.”

“We're all bad guys next to Saint Elena.”

Elena recognizes the moniker; it was how Vicki used to refer to her whenever Kelly got on her ass about something. “I'm no saint, Ty. None of us are anymore.”

“Yeah,” he sighs in agreement, finishing his cigarette before staring out into the darkness.

They are quiet for a long beat before Elena ventures, “I miss who we used to be.”

Tyler doesn't say anything. Instead he gets to his feet, extending his hand to her. “Come on.”

“What - “

“If we're going to be who we used to be, we're going to watch _Fang Fuckers 3_ and drink.”

Elena laughs but dutifully follows him inside the house.

* * *

They start spending a lot of time together.

It is not a conscious decision, but Elena starts finding herself with Tyler so much that Caroline starts to get that jealous look in her eye and Damon starts making pointed comments about her smelling like dog. Elena explains to Caroline she isn't interested in Tyler that way, but she isn't sure her friend believes her.

“You either need to tell Caroline you're not interested in me or we have to quit hanging out,” Elena declares one evening as she and Tyler work on their physics homework together.

Tyler rolls his eyes. “I'm not playing these stupid girl games.”

“Fine, but keep in mind Caroline's not just some girl; she's a girl who could kill you without messing up her hair.”

“Yeah, and I'm a badass werewolf.”

Elena laughs. “Oh, how could I have forgotten?”

“Are you telling me you don't think I could take Caroline in a fight?”

“If memory serves, you could barely take _Jeremy_ in a fight.”

He is on her before she even realizes he is moving, tackling her into the plush carpet of the Lockwood sitting room. She squeals as he easily pins her to the floor, one hand catching both of her wrists, holding them securely over her head as he straddles her hips. Elena blushes as she feels the sudden flare of desire in her stomach, at the sleeping strength in his muscles, at the delicious bite of his fingertips into her skin.

“You were saying?” Tyler asks, his face only inches from hers.

“You win,” she breathes, shifting slightly beneath him, unsure if she is pulling away or trying to move closer.

Elena watches as his eyes darken, and then she feels him firmly press his hips against hers, a slow roll which sets her entire body on fire. It has been six months since anyone has touched her like this, has been this close, and Elena knows this is a horrible idea; she loves Stefan and Tyler loves Caroline, but more importantly _she_ loves Caroline and this would kill their friendship.

“Ty,” she begins, shaking her head even as her body screams to do more.

He pushes his hips against hers again, grinding for a moment, and Elena cannot help but arch her head back, a movement he takes full advantage of. As Elena feels his lips against her neck, she opens her mouth to protest, to tell him to stop, to remind him this was wrong, but all which escaped her lips was a trembling sigh.

When he kisses her, Elena is suddenly assailed by the memory of the only kiss she and Tyler had ever shared, a tentative meeting of mouths when they were eleven, long before they even knew how to do this, let alone do it correctly.

Everything is different now.

 _They_ are different now.

Kissing Tyler is nothing like kissing Stefan. Even at his most passionate, Stefan always exhibited a manner of control; he never allowed his mouth to linger at her throat, he consciously focused on never using any of his strength, and he always pulled back before anything could go too far and test his fragile control. She could never tell him how turned on she had been when he had been drunk on blood and they had started to hook up in her bedroom; she could never tell Stefan she sometimes wanted to see the monster in him a little more.

There is nothing controlled in Tyler's kisses. With one hand still holding her arms above her head, his other hand sliding beneath the hem of her shirt, Elena could feel every inch of his body against hers, could feel the tension and power in his body. It was intoxicating, the edge of pain to his grip, the slight threat of power. Elena wonders if there is something wrong with her to want this, to _crave_ this.

It is not wrong, she decides as Tyler palms her breast, their hips churning impatiently. It is only wrong to want it with _Tyler_.

When he begins to pull away, Elena catches her breath, grateful he has come to his senses, desperately struggling to come to hers, but instead all he does is tug his shirt over his head, tossing the tee towards the couch before slipping his hands beneath hers and tugging it free.

“Wait, Ty,” she gasps as his mouth descends on her stomach, hot and wet against her skin. She shivers as he draws the tip of his tongue up the meridian of her body before drawing his teeth across her ribs. His hands are on the clasp of her bra before she can even remember what she was starting to say, and, as it pops open and her breasts are bared, Elena moans at the press of his chest against hers.

“I've got something,” he whispers into her ear before tugging it between his teeth.

For a second Elena doesn't understand what he is talking about until she feels the thundering of his heart against hers. Tyler is (mostly) human, and there would be human consequences to throwing caution to the wind.

Elena almost forgot there was such a thing as human consequences.

The sound of the front door opening is like a gunshot, shocking them both back to reality. Elena barely has time to grab her bra, trying desperately to hook it as Tyler scrambled for both of their shirts. Just as Tyler hands her the shirt he had taken off of her only moments earlier, Elena sees Carol Lockwood in the entry way, her scowling expression of disapproval quickly transforming into genuine surprise.

“Elena!”

Turning a furious shade of red, Elena holds her shirt against her chest. “Hey, Mrs. Lockwood.”

Her eyes flicking towards her shirtless son, Carol smirks. “Tyler.”

He nods jerkily, a blush appearing high on his cheeks. “Hi, Mom.”

Taking stock of the situation, Carol folds her arms over her chest and calmly states, “Dinner is in twenty minutes. Elena, you'll be joining us?”

“Well, I - “

“Wasn't a question, dear.”

Elena nods in understanding, her own cheeks flaming brightly in embarrassment. As Carol turns on her heel to head into the other room, Elena meets Tyler's gaze. For a moment, they are sharing in the sheer humiliation of having been caught in such a compromising position by his mother; and then, everything else forgotten, they both can't help but laugh.

At dinner, they sit across the table from each other, Carol and a few members of the City Council as guests, and Elena cannot help but smile every time her eyes meet Tyler's.

The next day Caroline shows up on her doorstep in tears, sobbing because Tyler told her he thought they should just be friends, and Elena has never felt worse in her life.

She avoids Tyler's calls for the next week-and-a-half.

* * *

The day of the full moon, Caroline takes a seat beside her at lunch and asks, “Can you do me a gigantic favor?”

Elena immediately smiles. “Hit me with it.”

“So the full moon is tonight.”

Instantly Elena feels her stomach start to churn. “Yeah...”

“Okay, so even though he kind of broke my heart, Tyler and I are doing the whole friends thing. And since I'm _such_ an amazing friend, I agreed to keep helping him with the transformations. But it's Stephen's birthday and my dad is making _such_ a thing about me blowing off visits, so I have to go to the party. Could you pinch hit for me tonight?”

She wants to say no, wants to keep the vow she made to herself weeks earlier to stay far, far away from Tyler, but she has never been able to say no to someone in need.

“Sure.”

As Caroline lays out the instructions for taking care of a werewolf, Elena wonders if she can do this, if Tyler will even _want_ her help.

When she reaches the Lockwood cellar, now newly reinforced following the last escape, Tyler is already inside, securing the thickest chains Elena has ever seen in her life. He turns at the sound of her feet on the dirt floor, and Elena instantly feels exposed, torn between wanting to apologize and wanting to pretend as if nothing had happened.

“Caroline tell you how we do this?”

Elena nods, grateful for the chance to pretend nothing out of the ordinary has happened. She mixes the wolfsbane into his water bottle, watching as the water turns yellow, and, when she turns to give it to him, Tyler has stripped down to a pair of breakaway pants. He takes the bottle, braces himself, and starts to chug, grunting and choking as it goes down. Elena fiddles with the cuffs of the manacles as Tyler coughs in pain from the drink, and she already wonders how Caroline can bear this every month.

When he is ready, she attaches the manacles to his wrists, ankles, and one around his throat, wincing as each cuff clicks shut. Tyler's body seems to be vibrating with energy, pulsing with some indescribable force Elena does not recognize, and it scares her, what it could do to him, what it could do to _her_.

“You can go,” he says once securely locked, unsnapping the closures of his pants.

“Are you sure?”

Tyler jerks his head up, irritation and anger on his face. “Don't act like you give a shit.”

Elena recoils, stung. “Tyler - “

“Just get out!”

She stumbles out the door, slamming it shut and securing both the locks and the heavy metal bars Tyler had soldered to allow extra reinforcement of the door. Caroline gave her explicit instructions to go home after locking Tyler up, but Elena cannot bring herself to do so, not when she can hear Tyler crying out in pain, when she can practically feel the sickening snap of his bones as his body twists into the wolf which is now howling inside the cell, the chains rattling.

Somewhere in the world, Stefan is going through his worst nightmare with the most evil vampire in existence, and Elena can do nothing to help.

Tyler is right here, and she does not want to leave him to face this alone.

Elena sinks to the ground, leaning back against the wall, listening to the growls and snarls of the beast her friend turned into once a month. It becomes a sickening lullaby as she tries to drift off to sleep, the full moon's light finding its way down the staircase to the cellar.

When sunlight replaces moonlight, Elena rubs at her bleary eyes, her body screaming in exhaustion, as she opens up the door. In the center of the room, curled up as much as the chains will allow, is Tyler. She quickly unlocks the manacles, wincing as Tyler groans pathetically at the movement, and instinctively Elena curls her body around his, holding him against her.

“'Lena,” he moans, and she shushes him, softly stroking his chest as she presses a kiss to the back of his right shoulder.

“I'm right here. It's okay.”

It takes almost an hour to get him dressed and into her car, both of them deciding it is better if he tries not to drive. Elena takes him to her house in order to avoid his mother, and she has just gotten him settled into her bed when Jeremy pops his head in.

“What's going on?”

“Tyler's just going to rest here until he's ready to go home,” Elena explains as if it is totally commonplace for Tyler Lockwood to be passed out in her bed.

“You coming to school?”

Elena shakes her head. “I want to be here in case he needs something.”

Jeremy looks at her then in that darkly inscrutable way of his, his eyes flitting between Tyler's resting form and her, before finally sighing, “Text if you need me.”

She wonders if Jeremy suspects something, but she is too tired to really give it much thought this morning. Instead she sheds her shoes and climbs into bed beside Tyler, settling into her pillows. Almost immediately Tyler turns and drapes a heavy arm over her body, snuggling up against her back.

“Are we friends again, 'Lena?” he sleepily breathes against her ear.

“Always,” she swears as her eyelids droop shut.

* * *

Three days before Christmas, Elena comes home to find Tyler, Jeremy, and Alaric having some sort of video game tournament in the living room. She rolls her eyes and swipes a slice of pizza from the box with the intention of heading upstairs when Alaric and Jeremy browbeat her into playing too. Before long, she and Alaric are positively trouncing Jeremy and Tyler. By the time Alaric calls it a night and Jeremy heads upstairs to call Bonnie, it is after midnight and Elena is hardly ready to call it a night.

She suggests going for ice cream at the twenty-four hour gas station on the edge of town, and Tyler easily agrees. They climb into his car, rolling down the windows to let the unseasonably warm air rush over them, Taking Back Sunday blasting on the radio. After picking up enough junk food to satisfy a sumo wrestler, they parked out by the falls, the roar of the water a familiar comfort.

As she finishes her ice cream and Tyler munches on potato chips, she announces, “When we all thought I was going to be a vampire, this is where Stefan brought me. While we were out here, Damon was saving you and Care, and Katherine was luring Jenna to her death.”

“Why did he bring you here?”

“Last day as a human...pretty scenery...I don't really know,” she confesses. “I think he wanted to push the discussion, get me to admit I didn't want to be a vampire.”

Tyler laughs mirthlessly. “Of course you don't.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

He shrugs. “No matter how much you love Stefan, at the end of the day, being with him forever means being dead. It means leaving the people you love, leaving the life you love.”

“I don't know how much I love my life anymore. I don't think I _can_ love being the doppelganger who gt everyone killed.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Tyler orders without malice. “John and Jenna died because they loved you. Stefan gave himself over to Klaus for _Damon_ , not you. And he wouldn't have had to do it if I hadn't bit him, so if you want to blame someone for Stefan not being here - “

“I don't,” Elena cuts in. “I just hate being a Petrova. I hate having Katherine's blood in me.”

“Yeah, but the doppelganger...that's _what_ you are, not _who_.” With a sigh, he explains, “When I was with Jules, I told her how much I hate what I am, the fucking Lockwood curse. And she explained that there are two ways of living with it and not driving yourself crazy: you either fully embrace the wolf side and accept it as a part of you or you recognize you have two different things inside of you which are completely separate. So the way I look at it: I'm Tyler, who also happens to be a werewolf. I'm not a werewolf who just happens to have been Tyler.”

Elena shoots him a small smile. “How zen.”

He jostles her with his shoulder. “But my point is, you could never have chosen to be a vampire because everything that makes you who you are is about life. You're the most loving, generous, selfless person I know, and there's no way you could ever have made the transition and lived with it. You would've hated yourself forever and you would've ended up hating Stefan too.”

She knows it's the truth; that's what hurts the most.

“Why did you absolutely end things with Care?”

Tyler takes a swig from his soda before passing it to her to do the same. “I love Caroline. What she's done for me, what she's forgiven me for, I can never explain what that means to me. But at the end of the day, she's dead and I'm not. She's going to be seventeen forever and I won't. And as crazy as our lives are now, someday I want to have a real life, a family, and I can't have those things with Caroline. And the truth is...Caroline doesn't want me. She wants Matt, and Matt doesn't want her, so she was going to settle for me.”

“Worse people to settle for,” Elena quips with a gentle smile.

Tyler wrinkles his brow in a mocking glare before inclining his head towards hers. As their foreheads brushed, Tyler drawls, “You know what?”

“What?”

“I _really_ like you, 'Lena. And I think you really like me too.”

“Yeah but - “

He presses his finger against her lips, his teeth flashing white in the darkness. “I like you. You like me. That's enough.”

She certainly hadn't intended to have sex with Tyler in the backseat of his car, but somehow they end up in the enclosed space, a tangle of sweaty limbs and clothing, hands grasping for contact, mouths meeting messily in desperation. It has been years since Elena has messed around in a car, and as uncomfortable as her back sticking to the interior is, there is part of her which is reveling in the act, in wanting someone and being wanted by someone so entirely it cannot wait.

There is a pinch of pain as he enters her, her muscles stretching to accommodate him, and Elena cannot help but dig her nails into the broad width of his shoulders. Tyler groans at the action, his hips rolling, and it suddenly occurs to Elena he _likes_ the pain the same she likes the taste of danger on his tongue.

“You feel fucking amazing,” Tyler all but growls against her collarbone, thrusting sharply when Elena picks up his rhythm. “I knew it. God, I fucking knew it.”

Elena moans as he strums her nipple, pitching her hips up in an attempt to keep him more deeply inside her. “You – You thought about this?”

Tyler chuckles against her cheek. “Only since we were thirteen.”

It doesn't last long. Both of them have been alone for too long, the tension having built to an unbearable level, and Elena cries out sharply as the pleasure overwhelms her, Tyler following swiftly behind. They lie there for a moment, their breathing regulating, before Tyler pushes himself up onto his palms to stare down at her, his face uncharacteristically tender.

“Come home with me.”

When she wakes up in his bed in the Lockwood mansion, Tyler holding her firmly against his body, for the first time in months, Elena actually feels at peace.

* * *

She and Tyler have been secretly dating for almost six weeks when Elena finally tells Caroline. 

Caroline stares at her for several long beats before asking, “Is this your idea of a joke?”

Elena feels tears stinging her eyes. “Care, I never meant - “

“You never meant to, what, take the one guy who was interested in me and not you?” she spits, her pretty face folding in pain. “You didn't mean to sleep with the guy I _cried_ to you about and asked you for advice about? What, you accidentally fell on his dick?”

Elena flinches at the venom in her friend's voice but knows she deserves it; she almost welcomes it. “I didn't want this to happen. I tried so hard to stay away from him - “

Caroline gets to her feet, tears now streaking down her face. “Well, gee, Elena, thanks so goddamn much for struggling with the decision to fuck the guy I liked! What a great friend you are!”

“Caroline, please - “

“You need to leave now.”

“Caroline!”

“Now!”

Elena cries the entire way home and wonders if she hasn't made the worst decision of her life.

* * *

“Caroline is my best friend,” Elena states two nights later as she and Tyler hang out in her room.

“Yeah, and Matt was my best friend,” he acknowledges, “but things aren't the way they used to be.”

“How can you say that? Caroline is your friend too.”

“And she'll get over this. I know Care pretty well, too, and I know she can forgive a hell of a lot worse than this.” 

“Yeah but she shouldn't have to! We shouldn't have - “

“If you want out, just say so, 'Lena.”

She feels her heart twist painfully at the thought before shaking her head. “I want to be with you, Ty, but I don't want...I don't have a lot of people left in my life, and I don't want to lose the ones I _do_ have.”

Tyler pulls her into his chest, stroking her hair gently. “You're not going to lose anybody, I promise.”

* * *

Tyler and Damon get into a fist fight later that week.

Elena isn't entirely sure how it starts since they are at a Founders' event, but one minute she is talking to one of the women from the Historical Society and the next, Tyler and Damon are spilling out of a hallway, both of them pounding on the other with supernatural fists. Alaric and Jeremy grab Tyler and Bonnie gives Damon an aneurysm long enough to slow him down and for Caroline to pull him away; all the while Elena stares on in horror, acutely aware of the multiple sets of eyes on her, wondering what her role in the fight was.

Neither man will tell her what the fight is about, and it is the lack of knowledge more than anything which infuriates Elena. Finally, fed-up and frustrated, she goes to Jeremy and asks what he knows, certain her brother has gotten the story from one of them.

“Damon told him to enjoy it while it lasts,” Jeremy reports, “because once Stefan comes home, you're going to take Ty back to the pound.”

She finds Tyler attacking the punching bag in the Lockwood basement, positively punishing it. When she descends the stairs, Tyler does not cease the movement, and Elena watches the play of muscles beneath his skin, fascinated by the sheer strength his body holds. It takes several minutes for Tyler to tire himself out, cracking his knuckles as he finishes, snatching a nearby towel and wiping the sweat from his body.

“What's up?”

“I'm not going to leave you when Stefan comes back.”

Tyler freezes, visibly startled by the words. “What?”

“I pick _you_. Not because he's not here but because...because I love you.”

He takes her hard against the wall, her legs wrapped around his hips, and Elena wonders if maybe everything that has happened in the past two years was just so she could end up with Tyler Lockwood.

* * *

Caroline forgives them four months into their relationship.

It isn't until Caroline's absolution of their sin Elena realizes just how peaceful Tyler becomes in its wake.

When she asks him about it, Tyler shrugs. “She was my best friend too.”

Elena had forgotten that.

She won't again.

* * *

As she is Jeremy's guardian, Elena does not go away to college as she had always planned. Jeremy has two more years of high school, and so she enrolls in Mystic County Community College; Tyler takes a few graphic design courses but spends most of his time working construction for Tina Fell's father. She knows from conversations with Carol Lockwood that the Mayor is not happy, but Tyler loves it. The work, he explains one evening, helps him get out the massive amounts of energy which can build up in his body if he sits still for too long, the energy which puts him so sharply on edge that the slightest irritant can send him into a rage.

A few weeks after Jeremy graduates, Elena mentions her intention of taking classes at the UVA-branch campus forty minutes away in the fall. When she brings up the graphic design program there, Tyler stays quiet, pulling a bottle of water from the fridge as he toes off his work boots.

“You don't want to go back to school?” she asks as she adds cucumbers to the salad she's making.

“I don't know. I'm making good money working for Old Man Fell.”

Elena barely manages to resist the urge to roll her eyes. Unlike most people their age, money is hardly a concern. Between the money her parents had left behind as well as their life insurance and the trust fund Tyler's grandparents had left him, they could live comfortably even without employment. “And that's what you want to do forever, put on roofing tiles and put up drywall?”

Tyler stiffens instantly, and Elena knows she has just crossed a line. He quickly tosses back the water before throwing it forcefully into the trash. “So sorry I'm not living up to your standards.”

“That's not what I meant.”

“No, it's what you meant, just not what you said.” 

“Tyler - “

“I expect this shit from my mom, not from you.” Brushing past her, he growls, “I'm not hungry.”

Elena stands there for several minutes, trying to compose herself; she doesn't want to cry and she knows he needs to calm down before he'll be able to talk. She hadn't wanted to upset him, certainly hadn't meant to offend him; all he had talked about was wanting to do something with his art, to put to use the talent he had, and she knows he hates working for the Fells.

When she reaches her parents' bedroom (she is not sure she will ever be able to think of it as _their_ bedroom), Elena finds Tyler standing beside their bed, a towel wrapped around his hips. He looks up as she enters, and Elena instantly sees the expression that, in the beginning of their relationship, had been so familiar to her, the look which telegraphed just how insecure he could really be.

“I just want you to be happy,” is all Elena offers, folding her arms across her chest.

“ _You_ make me happy,” Tyler states definitively. “The rest is just window dressing.” Running his fingers through his wet hair, he sighs. “It isn't that I don't want to go back to school, but the kind of work, it's not enough. The transformations got less violent once I started exerting myself. I need a way to get all of the fuckin wolf energy out or else I don't know what will happen.”

“Maybe we could find something else so you don't have to do something you hate for the rest of our lives.”

“I'm good at this, 'Lena. Yeah, my boss is a douche, but he also said I could be in charge of my own crew within a year. Just because it isn't my dream doesn't mean it's bad either.”

“I don't want you to have to compromise on this too.”

Tyler stands stock still for a moment before stating, “I don't feel like I've _had_ to compromise on anything else. Do you?”

He doesn't use Stefan's name, but Elena hears it in his voice. It is the great unspoken in their relationship, his belief she would rather be with Stefan, her belief he would rather be with Caroline. They had found their way to each other because the people they loved had become monsters; sometimes Elena wonders how differently everything would have turned out if Katherine hadn't turned Caroline, if she would have ended up back in Matt's arms if Tyler's hadn't been available.

Of course their lives were compromises, but, to some degree, whose wasn't?

The slamming of the front door followed by Bonnie and Jeremy's voices ends the conversation, Elena vowing to pick it up again later, to do her very best to convince Tyler he is the only one she wants to spend her life with.

A week later, Tyler doesn't come home from work.

She doesn't see him again for three years.

* * *

Elena thought it would be easier to put the pieces back together after the second time her boyfriend disapears without a word, but, if anything, it is harder. Stefan was forced to leave; Tyler _chose_.

Whenever she sees Carol Lockwood around town now, the Mayor looks particularly saddened. Sometimes she invites Elena to dinner, and Elena always swears she'll come around some evening, but both of them know no such dinner will transpire.

So wrapped up in her grief and anger, Elena doesn't realize something in her body is amiss until Bonnie asks to borrow a tampon and she cannot remember the last time she bought any. A pink plus sign reinforces her suspicion, and her gynecologist confirms she will be a mother in little more than five months.

She decides not to tell anyone until she makes a formal decision as to what she is going to do, but, for the first time in her life, Elena is unable to arrive at one. Her reticence to face reality makes the decision for her, but she stills wears the flowing tops and empire waist dresses which hide the minimal bulge of her stomach. It isn't until she has just started her seventh month before she tells anyone, and both Jeremy and Damon vow to murder Tyler on the spot.

“He didn't know,” Elena lamely offers as she watches her brother pace the living room like a caged animal.

She has never really believed Jeremy capable of murder until this moment; it is simultaneously the scariest and sweetest display of brotherly affection she has ever seen.

Bonnie offers to do a locator spell, but Elena asks her not to; if Tyler doesn't want to come back on his own, she has no intention of hunting him down to force him back into her life. While Damon and Jeremy think up inventive ways to dismember her baby's father, Alaric helps her turn her former bedroom into a nursery, painting the walls a soft shade of green and assembling the crib. 

Caroline bursts into tears when Elena tells her before enfolding her into the tightest hug she has ever received. “Oh my god, Elena, we're going to have a baby!” Within a week, Caroline has filled the closet with diapers, wipes, and picture books; Elena knows her best friend is probably using her baby as a placeholder for the child her dead womb will never be able to bear, but Caroline has been the only person who has expressed any sort of positive feeling about her pregnancy and Elena needs that, especially when everything feels so completely beyond her control.

One afternoon, Elena puts on her nicest maternity outfit and the ruby earrings Carol gave her for her high school graduation, and she drives over to Founders' Hall. The moment Carol sees her swollen middle, she bursts into tears, which promptly sends Elena into great, heaving sobs. They embrace in the middle of her office, and, as Carol strokes her hair, presses her palms against her stomach, and asks if she is getting enough folic acid, Elena realizes just how much she needs a mother right now.

Even if she _is_ Tyler's mother.

* * *

Max is an exhausting baby.

Elena knows she shouldn't think that, but it is the truth. He has almost limitless energy, never sleeps longer than two hours at a time, and demands attention constantly. Carol tells her Tyler was the same way, which is why Richard had allowed her to hire a nanny almost immediately; she offers to do the same for Elena, but Elena refuses. Her mother was able to care for her and Jeremy without hiring help, and she wanted to be able to do the same.

It wasn't until Max was four-months-old and she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown that she relented. After giving Jeremy the same logic she used for herself, her brother, home from college and frustrated at her inability to realize just how in over her head she was, snapped back, “Yeah, and Mom also had Dad!”

She locks herself in the bathroom for an hour, sobbing out her frustrations and pain, before going into her bedroom, calling Carol, and asking if her offer is still good.

It is Damon who shocks her back to life. 

Carol offers to watch Max for the evening, and Damon insists on taking her out for her first legal drink. She expects to be taken to the Grill, but instead he drives her to some hole-in-the-wall an hour away, ordering her a shot which burns so badly, it makes her eyes water. After that, she nurses a beer while he sips his bourbon.

“You need to snap out of this.”

Elena blinks in surprise. “Damon, what - “

“You're the toughest fucking person I've ever known,” Damon interrupts. “You faced down Katherine, Elijah, fucking Klaus, _and_ you lived to tell the tale. I've seen you do shit no human should ever be able to do, come back from some of the worst things people can imagine, and you did it with a smile on your face.”

Elena scoffs. “What's your point?”

“My point is, you lived through all of that and you're going to let Tyler Lockwood break you?”

Instantly she feels her back stiffen, body instinctively preparing for a fight. “Damon - “

“He's not worth it, Elena, and I'm sick and fucking tired of watching you shuffle around like a goddamn zombie because you can't move past it.”

“I'm shuffling around like a zombie because I have a _newborn_ \- “

“Exactly! You've got a kid now who needs you to be Elena Gilbert, not some pathetic girl who can't move past getting dumped.”

“Oh, because you're so concerned about Max?”

“No, I'm concerned about _you_! Tyler's gone and he isn't coming back, and you need to move on!”

It isn't as if she hasn't thought the same thing. But it is hearing Damon so carelessly declare Tyler's status which suddenly sends her into tears. She wants to blame hormones, which still seem to be out of whack since Max's birth, but she knows it is more than that. 

Tyler left because of what she said, because he thought she believed him to be a compromise; Elena is certain it is why he disappeared. She cannot verbalize this belief because saying it out loud, admitting she may be the reason Max never knows his father, might send everything crashing down.

Damon holds her as she cries, one of his rare displays of genuine humanity, and, when she is finished and has soaked his shirt with her tears, he buys her another drink.

“To new beginnings,” he toasts, clinking their glasses together.

He has to carry her home, but, when Elena awakens the next morning, she feels strangely rejuvenated.

* * *

Max has just turned two, Jeremy and Bonnie have just gotten engaged, and Elena is in her first year of teaching English at Mystic Falls High when Carol has a heart attack.

She is in the middle of lecturing on _MacBeth_ when Alaric interrupts the class. Instantly terrified something has happened to Max, she rushes out into the hallway with a mumbled instruction to start reading the second act to her startled students. Instead Alaric tells her Carol was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, and Elena is listed as her next of kin.

In her bed in the ICU, Carol Lockwood looks nothing like the put-together woman who hosts endless events or the doting grandmother who spent the past weekend chasing after a giggling Max in her backyard. With the oxygen mask and numerous IV lines, she looks like the shadow of a person she used to know. The cardiologist explains it was a moderate attack; Elena listens to him discuss blockages, percentages, and tests they will be performing, but all Elena can think about is how close she has gotten to losing yet another person to whom she is close.

She slips her hand into Carol's, squeezing it tightly to let her know she is not alone, and Carol's eyelids flutter. A whisper escapes her lips, rough and barely audible, but Elena instantly recognizes the two-syllable word.

As soon as she leaves the hospital, she calls Bonnie and asks her to please perform the locator spell, to please let Tyler know what has happened to his mother. Elena doesn't know what is going on with Tyler, but she knows he will always come for his mother.

By the time Tyler arrives from Alaska three days later, Carol has had a second heart attack and there is now discussion of a pacemaker being installed. Elena barely recognizes him when he enters Carol's room; a dark beard covers his beautiful face, his upper body has become even larger, and a scar now splits his chin.

Carol breathes his name like a prayer, and it takes everything inside of Elena not to flinch at the way his dark eyes linger upon her before flitting towards Carol. Even behind the beard, she can make out the tender smile she had once loved so desperately, the same smile she sees Max flash when he is feeling particularly sweet.

Elena gets to her feet to give them privacy, brushing a kiss to Carol's cheek and promising to come back tomorrow, when Carol rasps, “Can you bring Max?”

Elena freezes beneath Tyler's speculative look, but she struggles to keep a smile on her face for Carol. “The nurses said I can't until you're moved to a regular room. Soon enough though.”

Carol's eyes flutter shut briefly as she nods. “I miss my boys.”

Tyler says nothing directly to her as she leaves, and Elena waits until she reaches the elevator before she allows herself to cry.

* * *

He shows up on her doorstep as she is cleaning up dinner. Max is happily playing with the racetrack Jeremy got him for his birthday, blabbering away in a combination of baby talk and real words, Alaric and Jeremy are discussing what major Jeremy should declare, and Damon is throwing in ridiculous suggestions when Elena swings open the front door to reveal a teary-eyed Tyler.

“You had a baby,” is all he says, the pain and self-loathing in his voice so acute it nearly chokes her.

Before Elena can say anything, Damon is at her back, his fangs extended, and then she hears Alaric and Jeremy's rushing footfalls. Tyler immediately steps back, and Elena steps between Tyler and the other men in her life, an ineffectual barrier should they decide to come to blows.

Alaric holds back Jeremy and Elena pushes at Damon's chest, ordering them back into the house. She isn't sure why Damon agrees, but, once they are corralled inside her house, she grabs Tyler's sleeve and drags him towards his truck, climbing into the passenger's seat. Elena shivers in the cold, having left her coat inside, and she shivers again when Tyler removes his and hands it over.

He parks at the Falls, and, for a moment, Elena watches the tumble of the water. Finally, when she is certain she can speak without crying or shouting, she confirms, “I had a baby.”

“Max,” he fills in.

She nods. “Carol told you?”

Tyler shakes his head, his gaze fixed outside, jaw tightening. “I went to the house to drop off my stuff, and...”

Elena knows what he is going to say; in his absence, Carol has focused almost all of her energy on Max, and pictures of her only grandchild fill almost every frame in the house. For Max's birthday, in addition to the pile of toys, she had paid for Max to get professional photos taken with Elena, and one of the shots was now a large portrait in the living room.

“What's he like?”

She pauses for a moment, trying to decide how to describe her son. There are a thousand adjectives which come to mind, but all she can think to say is, “He's just like you.”

Elena is genuinely stunned when Tyler begins to cry, his broad shoulders bouncing, burying his face in his hands. She wants to be furious at him, to rage and explain what it was like to be barely more than a child and having to raise a baby she hadn't even been sure she had wanted, but all she can do in that moment is rest a hand on his shoulder and make the same shushing sound she uses when Max is fussy.

“I'm so sorry, 'Lena,” he sobs. “If I had known, if I had thought...”

“You would have known if you had ever called,” she can't help but snipe, her anger still simmering in her stomach. “If you had even said _goodbye_.”

Wiping at his eyes, he grits out, “I was trying to do the right thing.”

“Right thing? We were together for almost three years, Ty! We were living together! I thought we were going to get married! And one day you went to work and never came back! If you wanted out, you could've just told me! You could've moved back home or gone to fucking Alaska but still been a man and said goodbye!”

“'Lena - “

“Do you know what it was like, being pregnant alone? Giving birth and knowing my baby might never know his father? Do you have any idea what it was like for your mom? What could we have possibly done to deserve - “

“I killed someone,” he interrupts, shocking her into silence. Rubbing at his face with his hands, Tyler sighs heavily. “The last full moon I was here, the one the day after our fight, I got out. And when I woke up, there was this body...all torn up. I was less than a mile from our house, 'Lena, and all I could think about was how I must have been on my way to you.”

“How would you - “

“When I'm the wolf, everything's different, but some things stay, you know? Even when I'm a wolf, I remember you, and when I saw what I did to that guy...what I could've done to you or to Jer or my mom, I just...It wasn't _you_ , 'Lena, or our stupid fight; I just decided it was better to not be in your life than to risk ever hurting you.”

“You should have told me.”

“Why, so you'd tell me how it wasn't my fault, how it was going to be okay? I wasn't going to do that to you, to make you live like that again.”

“Live like what again?”

“Like you did with Stefan! I wanted you to have something normal!”

“Well, newsflash, Ty: I'm never going to _be_ fucking normal!”

They are quiet for several long beats before Tyler ventures, “Can I meet him?”

Elena nods immediately before outlining a day and time which will work.

* * *

Max adores him, climbing into Tyler's lap and offering up his favorite matchbox car.

Elena turns her back to hide the tears it brings to her eyes.

* * *

When Carol is released from the hospital, she insists on having Elena and Max over to dinner. Elena arrives to find Tyler clean shaven and sporting one hell of a black eye.

As Max fights his way out of her arms to rush Carol, Elena points to his face. “Jeremy or Damon?”

“Caroline.”

Elena cannot help but smirk. “So...Caroline kicked your ass?”

“I wouldn't say _that_.”

“What would you say then?”

“That she...impressed upon me how everyone feels about my return and what will happen if I leave again.”

This time Elena cannot help but grin. “You got beat up by a girl.”

“You could always kiss it and make it better,” Tyler quips before freezing at the implications of his words. Since his return, they have both consciously avoided making mention of their past relationship, striving to make his reintegration into Mystic Falls as smooth as possible, and flirting was only going to make that harder.

And yet Elena still feels the rumbling of attraction in her stomach, her body remembering what her mind is trying desperately to forget.

* * *

The first time she kisses him after his return, they are in the bed with they once shared, Max between them. He has been sick with bronchitis, and, given it is the first time he has ever really been sick, Elena cannot bring herself to leave his side. Tyler comes into the bedroom with a mug of tea for her, and she smiles gratefully before taking a small sip.

“You want me to put him in his bed?”

Elena shakes her head, brushing back the thick, dark curls from Max's sweaty forehead. “No, he's fine here.”

“Are _you_ okay?” he ask as he sinks down on what used to be his side of the bed.

“The night Klaus killed me, I was so scared I could hardly breathe. But this...this is so much worse.”

“The doctor said he'll be fine.”

“Yeah but...I understand monsters; I know how to fight monsters. But the human stuff...Sometimes it scares me even more than everything else.”

“Why's that?”

“Monsters have a purpose. They kill because they're hungry or desperate or bored. But all the human stuff is just so...random.”

“I don't think it's random.”

“You don't?”

“I used to,” Tyler admits, “but now maybe everything happens for a reason; maybe we need the monster stuff for the human stuff to happen.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. I mean, if you hadn't started dating Stefan, you never would've found out about vampires and werewolves. And if you hadn't gotten involved with Stefan, Katherine never would've turned Caroline or worked to get _me_ to turn. And if Caroline and I hadn't gotten so close, maybe we never would've become what we were. But if that hadn't happened, we never would've gotten Max, who is pretty much the most kickass human thing to ever happen.”

Elena doesn't consciously decide to move, but she finds herself pressing her mouth chastely against Tyler's for a moment before drawing back. She notices the pleasantly surprised expression on his face but does not acknowledge it.

“If you want to stay with us tonight, you can,” she offers instead, settling down into the mattress.

Tyler nods before doing the same, resting one large hand on Max's chest.

It is never explicitly spoken, but that is the night Elena knows she has truly forgiven him for everything which has happened.

* * *

Six months after his return, there is a blue moon. Elena feels Tyler's body pulsing with energy, and she can taste his terror when he brushes his lips against hers in greeting the evening before the second full moon.

Elena watches him playing with Max that night, at the way he keeps a careful distance, at the tremble of his hands as he consciously tries _not_ to touch his son. After tucking Max into bed, she comes downstairs to find Tyler unloading the dishwasher, the muscles in his back tight.

“If I didn't trust you with Max, I wouldn't let you be around him.” 

Tyler pauses for a moment before stating, “You don't know what it's like, 'Lena, to have something in you that you can't control, that could kill the people you love.”

“No,” she acknowledges, “but I _do_ know what it's like to love someone who has that in them and feeling like they never trust you enough to let you know it's there.”

Tyler turns around slowly, frustration on his face. “How can I let you know what's there when I don't even know how to describe it?”

“Well, you better figure it out because that little boy upstairs, he has that in him, the Lockwood curse. And you're going to have to explain to him one day how to control his temper, how to make sure he never has to go through what you go through every month.”

“I don't want him to know about this.”

“And I don't want him to accidentally kill someone and spend the rest of his life hating us for not preventing it!” Folding her arms over her chest, Elena sighs. “Like it or not, Ty, this is our life. I don't want to do things the way our parents did, keeping secrets and letting us stumble into the darkness with our eyes closed. I want Max to know what's out there, what he could be if he doesn't learn to control everything.”

“I don't know if I'll ever be able to control everything.”

“Everything's already under control, Tyler, but you just can't see it. You're your own worst enemy.”

“Elena - “

“You told me once this was what you wanted,” she continues. “You wanted the house, the wife, the kids, and you can have it if you'd just stop dicking around.”

She is at the bottom of the stairs before Tyler catches her arm, spinning her around and pulling her into the most passionate kiss they have shared in years. It is what breaks the dam Elena has constructed around her heart, the one built after his disappearance; she tears at his shirt ruthlessly as he pushes her skirt above her hips.

He enters her forcefully on the stairs, the edges of the steps biting deliciously into the tender skin of her back, and Elena brutally sinks her teeth into the corded muscle of his shoulder, a pleasurable punishment. In retaliation, he grasps a handful of her hair and jerks her head to the side, growling into her ear as her cry of delight echoes off the walls.

“Don't wake the baby,” Tyler cautions as he snaps his hips in a rhythm which sends the breath running from Elena's lungs.

It is the sense of domesticity in his words coupled with the supernatural speed of his hips which sends her catapulting towards orgasm, his name on her lips.

* * *

“You ever think about getting married?”

Elena lifts her head from Tyler's shoulder, playfully gesturing to the ankle-length maid-of-honor's gown she is wearing which is a horrendous shade of green, Bonnie's favorite color. “Only to inflict this kind of torture on Bonnie.”

Tyler laughs for a moment before repeating, “You ever think about it?”

She softens before nodding minutely. “Of course.”

“Would you marry me?”

Elena arches her eyebrows. “Are you seriously proposing to me without a ring at my brother's wedding reception?”

He shakes his head with a laugh. “No. I just...I just wanted to make sure.”

They never do get engaged. One weekend they simply decide to drive to Maryland, Max chattering in the backseat as he watches a movie, and get married by a Justice of the Peace before spending the rest of the weekend at the beach.

Carol insists on throwing them a party to celebrate their marriage, and, rather than spend the rest of their lives listening to a lament about how they hadn't invited her to their wedding, they easily agree. Elena knows her friends are all still slightly suspicious of their renewed relationship, especially the sudden marriage, but she is incredibly grateful no one is voicing their opinions.

Well, except Damon.

“I still think you can do better,” Damon declares as they dance across the floor of the Lockwood mansion.

Elena can't even get angry, not with Damon, not over this. She knows he has still always held out some sort of hope for the two of them, and, if nothing else, she is grateful for how supportive he was while Tyler was gone, how much he did for her and Max back then. “I know you do.”

“Is this _really_ what you want, to be some boring suburban mom married to the dog-faced boy?”

“This is _exactly_ what I want,” Elena states emphatically, meeting his gaze steadily.

Damon nods in understanding. “Then congratulations, Mrs. Lockwood.”

There had been a time when all Elena had fantasized about was being Mrs. Salvatore.

As she looks across the room to where Tyler and five-year-old Max are currently raiding a cookie tray, their matching dark heads inclined towards the other's.

 _This_ , Elena decides as her heart swells with love, is better.

* * *

One morning in June, Elena is in the middle of wrestling Max into his outfit for a Founders' event while also making sure Jack hasn't managed to spit up on his outfit in the past ten minutes when Tyler trades her the telephone receiver for an irritated and pouting Max.

“It's Damon,” Tyler reports before picking up the dress pants Max had thrown at Elena. Turning to his son, he announces, “Either you put them on or I put them on you. Your choice.”

As Max immediately starts to pull the pants over his legs, Elena groans in exasperation, “How do you _do_ that?” before saying hello to Damon.

“Stefan's back,” is all he says.

Elena expects to feel relief or excitement, but instead she feels a peculiar sense of nothingness. She is grateful Stefan is safe, that Klaus did not kill him, but the love she once felt, the overwhelming feelings which had made her drunk at seventeen, are not there anymore.

“I have to be at Founders' Hall in an hour. I'll come by when I can.”

“Elena - “

“I'm with my family right now, Damon. When I can come by, I will.”

She notices Tyler studying her silently as he reaches for Max's tie. “What was that about?”

“Stefan's back,” she states as if it does not have the ability to be world-shaking news. “Damon wanted me to come over.”

“If you need to go - “

“I'm where I need to be,” Elena states definitively, brushing a kiss against his lips. “I'm going to get Jack and pack the diaper bag.”

When they finally make it to the party, Elena immediately notices Caroline is not present and she does not doubt for a second where her friend is.

She is glad Stefan has Caroline.

If there is anything Elena knows with certainty, it is that Caroline Forbes can turn a lost boy into an extraordinary man.

* * *

In the grand scheme of events Elena never believed would transpire, Stefan being the godfather to her and Tyler's first daughter was at the top, right underneath Damon joining the priesthood.

When she gives birth to Olivia on the eleventh anniversary of the first time she and Tyler slept together, all Elena can see in her daughter's face is John. Defying all genetic odds, Olivia has a dusting of fine blonde hair, alabaster skin, and soft blue eyes; she looks nothing like her brothers, who do nothing but stare at her in fascination those first few days.

Tyler suggests Caroline as the godmother almost immediately, and Elena cannot help but agree. Caroline cries when they extend the offer, and Elena sees then just how strong the bond between Caroline and Tyler is when she watches them embrace. Elena is not jealous exactly, but there is an easy understanding between the two of them she and Tyler can never quite replicate.

As the two of them are conversing, Elena watches as Stefan carefully cradles her daughter, smiling into her perfect, little face, and suddenly Elena cannot think of anyone else she would rather have defending her daughter.

The offer is out of her mouth before she can even truly think about it, and Stefan's head snaps up in surprise. Tyler arches an eyebrow at her, the only outward sign of his disagreement, but he does not utter a single syllable.

“Are you sure?” Stefan asks, a tremble in his voice. “I'm not - “

“We're positive,” Elena declares.

Tyler is furious at first until she explains why she asked Stefan without consulting him, why she would ever offer something like that to a person Tyler hates.

“Like it or not, we're a family, Ty, and Stefan's part of that family. And someday we're not going to be here, but Stefan, Care, Damon...They're going to be the ones watching out for our kids, and I want to acknowledge.”

Tyler nods begrudgingly before grunting, “Fine, but if he ever tries to date Liv, I'll fucking kill him.”

Elena solemnly nods. “Deal.”

* * *

In the middle of the night one autumn evening, Elena wakes up to find the bed beside her cold. She gets to her feet, checking on the boys, passed out in their bunk beds, the television droning in the background; she turns it off before moving to Olivia's room. Her daughter lies in her frilly princess bed, the bear Stefan bought her for her christening clutched tightly in her hands.

Elena finds Tyler on the back porch, his head tilted up to look at the waxing moon. She sits beside him, resting her head against his shoulder; he kisses the top of her head before drawing her tightly against his body.

“What's wrong?” she asks, kissing the hinge of his jaw, roughened by stubble.

“I couldn't sleep. It's hard sometimes when the full moon's getting close.”

“I know.”

“Did you know Max is starting to have problems sleeping? It's why he keeps falling asleep with the TV on. The moon's already fucking with him.”

Elena shivers as the breeze blows. “Well...he's starting puberty. It makes sense, I guess.”

“Do you ever regret having kids with a werewolf?”

“No,” Elena answer instantaneously. “Why, do you regret having kids with a doppelganger?”

Tyler shakes his head with a chuckle. “Nah, I just...I worry sometimes.”

“Of course you worry. You're a dad.”

Tyler turns to face her, his dark eyes flashing yellow briefly. “Not all I am,” he growls, the promise of pleasure implicit in his voice.

Elena smirks. “Prove it.”

That is the night they conceive Noah.

* * *

The year she turns 40, Elena wakes up to all of her children serving her breakfast in bed.

Max is 20 now, a sophomore at Duke, and built exactly like Tyler had been at that age. Elena knows he is dating someone at school, someone he is serious about, and it seems inconceivable to her that her baby is a man now.

Jack is 14, gangly and clumsy, possessing none of the athletic prowess of his older brother. He is artistic and painfully shy; Elena knows how hard it is for him to be a Lockwood, to be known by everyone in Mystic Falls.

Olivia is 11, balancing precariously on the edge between child and teenager. In many ways, she reminds Elena of the girl she had been before her parents' deaths; Olivia is always happy, always smiling, and enchants every male who crosses her path.

Noah is 8, already a handful in a way his siblings never were. Elena spends every day trying to find ways to keep Noah engaged in an activity long enough to keep him out of the trouble which inherently finds him. His best friend is Matt's daughter, and it warms her heart, how history can repeat.

As her children pile into her king-sized bed and Tyler smiles from the doorway, Elena feels an overwhelming rush of love and gratefulness.

She'll never say it out loud, but sometimes she thinks the best thing that ever happened to her was Stefan leaving with Klaus.

It brought her to Tyler.

It brought her four beautiful children.

It brought her happiness.

And if there is one thing Elena Lockwood cannot deny, it is just how happy she is.


End file.
